The best acid-trip, hallucinogenic, surreal, trippy scenes in anime

Some of the more creative animation in a handful of American titles only begins to touch on it. The kind of trippy animation Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Heavy Metal, and other animated (or partially animated) movies attempted, or only just began to deliver – certain anime titles fully deliver. These kinds of dreamlike sequences come from truly creative minds and equally creative, inspired, talented artists.

In other cases, anime episodes actually include the use of hallucinogenic substances, such as mushrooms. In episode 17 of Cowboy Bebop [list of Cowboy Bebop episodes], "Mushroom Samba,"
their spaceship, the Bebop, is sideswiped in a hit-and-run incident off of Europa and crash-lands on the moon Io. Ed and Ein (the dog) set out to find something for the hungry crew to eat. They run into a psilocybin (magic) mushroom smuggler named Domino Walker, procuring several hallucinogenic mushrooms which they take back to the ship. Instead of eating the mushrooms immediately herself, Ed decides to test the fungal treats on her near-starving crew mates. Ed, knowing the others will eat them, places the mushrooms where Spike, Jet, and Faye are sure to find them. Ed spies on them and watches them trip out!

Now for a few sample videos…

GITS2: Innocence (2004) – The flight sequence, immediately followed by the parade scene (notable for the grand scale of the metropolis – its vastness, its immensity, etc.). The subtitles are in French in this case, but this doesn’t matter as it’s the amazingly creative animation with unbelievable depth of field, lighting, etc. to which I wish to being your attention here. (The amazing visuals start at about the 50-second mark of this video.) When the video starts, adjust it to full screen mode to get the most out of it (lower right corner):

Paprika – the repeating nonsensical parade of random objects which have come to life:

Akira (1988): Tetsuo’s hallucination:

Akira (1988): Tetsuo’s mutation:

More trippy anime scenes, coming soon (look for them on YouTube in the meantime):

Spirited Away – most of this film is tripping: a MUST-SEE! Here’s the Spirited Away – movie trailer:

Howl’s Moving Castle – much of this film is surrealTekkon Kinkreet – much of this film is trippingParanoia Agent – tripping in partsAnimatrix – tripping in partsMetropolis trailer:

Hell Girl – tripping in parts (generally, the last 2-3 min. of each Hell Girl episode, which are like nightmare sequences in which the antagonists often receive a major dose of their own harsh medicine…)Noein to Your Other Self – tripping in parts (multiverse theory, quantum mechanics,time travel, parallel universes)Strait Jacket – tripping in parts (mutating monsters)FLCLMagical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi – very trippy in partsElfen LiedMushi-shiGantzPet Shop of Horrors